UCPS calendar sales of to benefit conservation

22 Feb 2017, TODAY Newspaper, by S. Marivel: All the proceeds from the 2017 UCPS calendar currently sold at SCR 250 per copy will go towards the purchase of equipment for Nature Seychelles’ conservation programs. The target is to raise SCR 15,000 for the purchase of 2 GPS units with their waterproof cases, plus extra batteries.

The Cousin Island Special Reserve conservation program needs to replace its GPS units to assist in its long term monitoring and research programs.

Next year, 2018, Cousin Island Special Reserve will have been a legally protected nature reserve for 50 years. According to international conservation authorities, this reserve is “one of the world’s great conservation success stories”. It was purchased by Birdlife International in 1968 to save what was then considered the rarest bird in the world - the Seychelles Warbler.

UCPS calendar mock up

It is the Western Indian Ocean’s most important nesting site for critically endangered Hawksbill Turtles and is host to the world’s longest-running monitoring program for this species (since 1972). Eight species of nesting seabirds and five species of nesting endemic land birds are found there. It was the site for the first successful translocation of the Seychelles Magpie robin. It has the world’s highest density of lizards (1 per sq meters).

The GPS units will be used to gather precise information during monitoring of these and other species. The calendar will be sold until mid-March and by end of April the donation will be made.

James Dupres, who worked on the concept and layout of the calendar together with photographer Marsha Dine and graphic designer Andrew Palmier, collaborated with UCPS to create the calendar and donate the proceeds to a good cause.

“We have always been happy with Nature Seychelles’ involvement in environment so when it was time to choose a group, they were the obvious choice,” Mr. Dupres explains. “We asked Nature Seychelles to give us a specific need we could help them with. After the donation, we will have an implementation review to properly assess how the donation is being used. This is just to give some transparency into the project.”

He explains that often donation money is handed out but with little to no follow up. This is something they want to avoid in this project.